Rideshare Firm Bolt Begins Food Delivery In Estonia

Estonia Now Offers Food Delivery From Bolt, An Uber Competitor

Ride-hailing service Bolt, which used to be called Taxify and is an Uber competitor, has started delivering food in Estonia, where the company originated, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The company also said it was planning on launching a similar service in other countries in Europe and in Africa. In Estonia, Bolt Food will deliver from around 80 restaurants in Tallinn, the capital of the Eastern European country.

The company already has a network of thousands of drivers, and it will utilize those drivers to deliver the meals.

Chief Executive Officer Markus Villig had said earlier this year that he would bring food delivery “anywhere we have a market-leading position.” 

The food delivery market in Western Europe has been tightening. Takeaway.com NV and Britain’s Just Eat Plc decided this month to join forces and combine both companies. Takeaway also said it was going to acquire Germany’s Delivery Hero SE, for about $1 billion. 

Bolt has 25 million users throughout 30 countries and hundreds of thousands of drivers. Villig said he feels confident that the market will support his goals. Bolt raised $175 million last year at a valuation of $1 billion.

In June, Bolt also entered London after previously being denied due to permitting issues.

Bolt said through a spokesperson that after denial by the city transportation authority “we reapplied for a license immediately and have gone through an extremely thorough licensing process that was successfully completed a few weeks ago. Since then we have also completely rebuilt the team and the operations in London.”

Bolt has said it provides its drivers a larger share of profits than does Uber. There are already 20,000 drivers signed on in the city, the company has said. The move follows Bolt’s launch in 17 other European Union countries — and the general roadmap is to move in on areas where Uber does not have a (relatively) large presence.